Remote working is here to stay after Covid crisis, say UAE employees

New research by audio and video conferencing firm Poly suggests 82 percent of respondents are intending to spend at least one day a week working from home in the future, with 54 percent planning to split their time evenly between office and home.

Working from home has become commonplace since the outbreak of the global coronavirus pandemic which forced most companies to temporarily close their offices in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus.

According to the survey, one of the drivers for this shift is the emergence of ‘anytime working’ – whereby employees have greater autonomy over when they do their work – with over two thirds of UAE employees (69 percent) saying the 9-5 has been replaced by anytime working.

When asked about the benefits of working from home, the top three responses given were avoiding lengthy commutes, achieving a better work-life balance and feeling less stressed.

Similarly, when asked what they would miss about working from home, people highlighted lie ins, time with family and finishing on time.

The report provides analysis on the findings of a survey of 7,261 hybrid workers from the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, Poland and the UAE.

It noted that working from home made employees more productive with fewer concerns for noise and distractions.

However, the survey found that 37 percent of workers in the UAE are worried that working remotely could impact their development and career progression.

“Almost two-third of hybrid workers (64 percent) believe that office culture has changed forever,” said Dave Shull, president and CEO of Poly. “The uptick in hybrid working is a signal that our professional life is set to transform further. Work equity and equality of employee experiences are now at the forefront of all discussions as both organisations and workers are embracing the new ways of working.”

From a UAE perspective, the trend was almost similar with only 45 percent of the hybrid or home workers agreeing that they could be discriminated against, or treated differently, to employees that choose to be in the office while 34 percent felt that they would be affected by the ‘noise rage’ if their colleagues were too loud.

The report also revealed that better equipment and technology (44 percent), attending meetings (34 percent), brainstorming and collaboration (31 percent) were the main drivers for coming to the office in the future.

The report, which surveyed hybrid and office workers who mostly use technology as part of their day-to-day official duties in the UAE, also found out that only 36 percent would spend two days working from home and three days going to the office.

Twenty-three percent of the workers surveyed said that they would work from home for just three days and only two days in the office.

While many workers have reaped the benefits, working from home has not been a smooth transition for everyone with the lines between anytime working and being ‘always on’ blurring.

More than half of UAE workers (58 percent) felt that the rise in remote working has meant they are ‘always on’ and always available, leaving them unable to relax or switch off from work.

Added to this, being expected to work outside of their hours was listed as the second biggest drawback of working from home – after having less fun with colleagues.

Other survey findings included:

• Difficulty collaborating, lack of IT support and lack of equipment to enable home working are listed within the top five drawbacks of working from home – suggesting many employees have not been provided with the right tools to work effectively.
• Nearly half of UAE workers (48 percent) said they worried about missing out on learning from peers and seniors when working from home.
• A further 63 percent UAE workers think hybrid or home workers could be discriminated against or treated differently to employees in the office full-time.
• 27 percent of UAE remote workers felt that being expected to work outside their work hours was one of the main drawbacks of working from home. In terms of gender, only 28 percent of the male workers felt this way compared to 23 percent of the women.

The research also suggested that there are very mixed feelings about the return to office – with 72 percent of UAE workers saying that office culture has ‘changed forever’.

• 61 percent of UAE workers expressed concern that noise levels in the office will make them less productive.
• 60 percent of UAE workers worry they will be prone to “noise rage” if their colleagues are too loud.
• 64 percent of UAE workers think they’ll get fed up if their noisy coworkers break their concentration.
• 57 percent of UAE workers fear that they will be more prone to outbursts in the office now that they’re unable to mute themselves or turn their cameras off.

Comparatively, 51 percent of UAE workers are looking forward to returning to the office because of the noise at home.

UAE’s healthcare, legal, arts and culture emerged as the industries that are likely to be affected by noise levels upon returning to the office environment.

The findings also highlighted the impact remote working has had on young workers and how their careers could be in jeopardy, with many worrying about the return to office.

Two-fifths of respondents have been unable to visit their new office – either because the company had moved offices, or they joined during the pandemic – a figure that rose to 49 percent of 18–24-year-olds in the UAE.

Of the young workers who have not yet visited their office, 80 percent of workers in the UAE said the thought of visiting the office for the first time, and the potential noise levels, kept them awake at night.